256 THE PROSCRIBED. 



" and let us see what thou hast in thy budget. I have seen, my lad, 

 for some days, that some crotchet was out of tune, that thou hadst 

 taken some maggot into thy poor brain. Come then, let us see ! 

 unthread me thy chaplet, wilt thou ? Why, thou must be a coward 

 indeed to be afraid of getting into any scrape, when thou carriest 

 the halberd to the citizens, and when thou livest under the pro- 

 tection of the chapter. The canons would put the diocese under 

 an interdict if Jacqueline carried a complaint to them of the 

 slightest affront." 



And so saying, she went straight up to the sergeant, and took him 

 by the arm : *' Come along then," said she, obliging him to rise, 

 and leading him out upon the steps. 



When they were at the water's edge in their Lilliputian garden, 

 Jacqueline cast upon her husband a glance of mockery : " Learn, 

 old good-for-nothing, that when this fair lady goes out of our house, 

 a good bit of gold will go into our stock of savings." 



u Oh ! oh !" observed the sergeant, who remained pensive and 

 still before his wife. He soon, however, resumed the conversation : 

 f< Ah ! then, we are lost ! Why does this lady come to our house ?" 

 " She comes to see the very pretty little clerk that we have up 

 there ; M replied Jacqueline, pointing to the chamber, the window of 

 which looked out upon the vast extent of the Seine. 



" Malediction !" cried the sergeant ." For a few false crowns, 

 thou hast ruined me, Jacqueline. Is that a trade for the strict and 

 circumspect wife of a sergeant ? But, were she even Countess or 

 Baroness, this lady would not be able to get us out of the trap. 

 Shall we not have besides a great and powerful husband against 

 us ; one, too, highly offended ? for, there is no denying it, she is 

 wonderfully handsome. '' 



" Oh ! yes ! to be sure ! but she is a widow, villainous gos- 

 ling ! Darest thou suspect thy wife of infamies and follies ? This 

 lady has never spoken to our pretty clerk. She contents herself 

 with seeing him and thinking of him. Poor child! If it had not 

 been for her he must long since have died of hunger. She is 

 almost a mother to him ! And he, the cherubim, it is as easy to 

 deceive him as to cradle one newly born. He believes that his little 

 stock lasts still, and he has already exhausted it twice in six months." 

 u Woman 1" said the sergeant gravely, pointing to the place of 

 the Greve, " dost thou remember to have seen from hence, a few 

 days ago, the fire in which the Danish sorceress was burned ?" 

 " Well, and what then?" asked Jacqueline, somewhat alarmed. 

 " Well then !" replied Tirechair, " the two strangers that we 

 harbour, smell of the faggot. There is neither chapter, nor coun- 

 tess, nor protection which is secure. Easter come, the year is 

 finished, we must get rid of them soon and sudden. Wilt thou 

 teach an old sergeant to detect a gallows bird ! Our two lodgers had 

 dealings with the Porrette, that Danish heretic whose last cry thou 

 heardest from this place. It was a bold and fine she-devil after all ! 

 She never so much as bent her brows when at the stake, which 

 proved satisfactorily enough her familiar acquaintanceship with 

 Satan. I saw her there as I see thee now. She still continued 



